Isla de Gigantes Sur

A shroud of concealment and mysticism seemingly looms over Isla Gigantes, group of islands off the coast of Carles and Estancia in Northern Iloilo. If you ask most Ilonggos about Gigantes Islands, they will probably return your question ask you what that is. That’s because the northern part of Iloilo is the least visited and only a few have dared to travel to those parts since it is not as accessible compared to the towns along the main highways of Panay Island. The few that have gone there, however, are rewarded with a surprising experience of witnessing beautiful sceneries of virgin islands, white sand beaches, colorful marine life, and extraordinary land formations uncharted by the tourist crowd.

For now we’ll take a virtual tour of South Gigantes Island, also called Isla Gigantes Sur, one of two big islands that comprise Isla Gigantes, located approximately 25 kilometers northeast or an hours travel from Estancia Port by boat. A kilometer stretch of white sand beach, where a small village settlement is located, greets first-time travelers to the island. On the right is a glimpse of the steep cliffs that characterize the southern coast of Isla Gigantes Sur.

There are no resorts or hotels in these parts. Visitors wishing to spend the night in the island usually ask permission from one of the locals to spend the night in their house. There is electricity in the island that runs only at nighttime. To go on a boat tour around Isla Gigantes Sur and visit nearby islands, visitors could rent fishing boats from the local boatmen.

Rock formations

The picturesque line of jagged cliffs in the southern part of Isla Gigantes is worth a visit. The scene could almost be mistaken to be in the exotic seascapes of Palawan or in Thailand. It is astonishing how nature could have made these formations over centuries.

Tangke Salt Water Lagoon

Climbing over one of the cliffs will take visitors to “Tangke,” a salt water lagoon formed by a surrounding wall of monolithic cliffs. Tourists can take a dip and immerse themselves in the serenity of nature.

Pawikan Cave

Another exceptional place to visit in Isla Gigantes Sur is “Pawikan Cave,” which can be reached by conquering a steep cliff and entering a hidden forest on top. The trek to the top is not for the weak, the incline is around 45 to 70 degrees and 200+ feet high, however, the effort is worth it after seeing the spacious caverns inside the cave with its otherworldly mood and rock formations. The cave is surprisingly well lit because of several holes on the cave’s roof, which form natural atriums.

Beyond Isla de Gigantes Sur

There are still other islands that dot the waters of Northern Iloilo … so many sights to explore and discover! For those who want to visit Gigantes Island for themselves, Estancia Port is the main jump-off point to Gigantes Islands. There are no established resorts or hotels in the islands so visitors usually rent a room in one of the resorts in Estancia town proper and go to Estancia port during the day to find boatmen willing to take them on a boat tour.

Actually Gigante Islands is of two parts, namely the Gigante Norte and Gigante Sur. The one that is being featured here is only the Sur. I also recommend Gigante Norte not because i am living there but because you can also find amazing caves and beautiful beaches in that northern part of the island. :D

Mithrill that was my statement of fact and stating the obvious . its like hey it’s summer , you better get on the beaches of Iloilo before the rainy season starts… this site is promotional just like cola drinks , its advertised every minute in every channel although we know already since birth theres cola drinks …. So now.. its summer and its best time to have tropical vacation …

@Johann I’ve been there last week and the place is really beautiful. FYI: there is a place where you can stay for 150/head. The place is owned by Joel’s family (almost all boatman know him). Electricity is available from 3PM to 11PM and their gen set stays on until you need it. There is unlimited supply of water fresh from the mountains so you can have your shower as long as you want-free of charge. There is no wet market in the area though. They will serve whatever is the catch for the day. The good thing is, you will only pay the amount as priced by the fishermen. There is a “sari-sari” store a few steps away. The resort owner will not ask you for additional charges. You just need to give some amount to the “chef” a hundred or two will be enough.

Once you go for Island Hoping, you can even ask someone or even Joel to deliver your brunch in one of the islands there.

We hired a “pump boat” from Estancia going to Isla Gigantes. We paid 3,500. This is good for a “round trip” travel, including Island Hopping. In our case, we visited 4 Islands and a cave. We hired the pump boat for more than 24 hours for only 3,500.

@Johann I’ve been there last week and the place is really beautiful. FYI: there is a place where you can stay for 150/head. The place is owned by Joel’s family (almost all boatman know him). Electricity is available from 3PM to 11PM and their gen set stays on until you need it. There is unlimited supply of water fresh from the mountains so you can have your shower as long as you want-free of charge. There is no wet market in the area though. They will serve whatever is the catch for the day. The good thing is, you will only pay the amount as priced by the fishermen. There is a “sari-sari” store a few steps away. The resort owner will not ask you for additional charges. You just need to give some amount to the “chef” a hundred or two will be enough.

Once you go for Island Hoping, you can even ask someone or even Joel to deliver your brunch in one of the islands there.

We hired a “pump boat” from Estancia going to Isla Gigantes. We paid 3,500. This is good for a “round trip” travel, including Island Hopping. In our case, we visited 4 Islands and a cave. We hired the pump boat for more than 24 hours for only 3,500.

Can you send me a contact number of Joel or any of his family member..we are planning to visit on the end of the month..here is my number 09395392266//./.please

Ganda nito! Thanks to Marcus for posting this which encouraged me to go there. I drove my way there and we hired a pump boat. The sandbar was an awesome sight near Batigue(spelling?). There was a sort of pool inside one of the islands and really just something one should see. Careful of the sharp rocks though!

hi nice pics :) does anyone have a contact number, boat owners or accomodations to isla gigantes, im a bit confused, which is better jump off point going to isla gigantes, carles or estancia? thank you, planning to go there by october 2011, thanks in advance for those who will reply :)

hello po .. may I use your pictures for my Eco-tourism report this Friday? Iloilo is one of my two topics and I stumbled on this destination and I would like to use your pictures and if possible, the descriptions too. I’ll be waiting for your response. thanks :)

We’ve been there last week (8/05-07/2011. It was so B.E.A.Utiful… We’ve only managed to visit 3 island b’cos we didn’t have enough time… but even so, just one island is enough to amazed you, especially Kabugaw Island… almost white sand beaches… it was so amazing. In the island we’ve meet Kuya Joel Decano a tourism officer and Kuya Jingle they’re so nice to give us a tour and assisted us when we stayed at Gigantes Hideaway Inn. Fresh seafoods are served at a very affordable price. Gigantes Island is 3 hour boat ride from Carles which is 3 a hour drive from from Iloilo.

hey, thanks for posting these awesome pics…the place looks amazing. would def. plan to go there. The home of my Great grandfather Melchor Villacrusis… watch out, we will visit this place pretty soon!!!

i just came from my one-week vacation on this place. i am truly enchanted with its beauty! i am so happy that places like this still exists in the philippines. hope the people will take care of such marvelous creations.:)

i and my friends are exploring local places which are fascinated and kakaiba..only this place in iloilo i havent gone..please give us details f were ung sakayan, fare rates, kung san pwedeng mag overnyt dun? tnx m looking forward sa reply coz wer planing that this s our next destination this Feb.

i really love this place..thanks to the people who are behind this…isla gigante is the place i really love to spent my summer time as well as i have my vacation….the place were my mother was born and the place were i spent my 2 years in high school…yeah high school…pasaway…..but anyway…w/o experiencing those things i wont be in my stan d right know…..and im very much proud to say..isla gigante is a part of my life……

i really love dz place….. i have went to dz place last 2007 together wid my clasm8….. our history teacher brought us there and we stayed der for 3 days at Rock Angel and der accomodation is good….. paradise is in our reach as we go island hoping….. everytime i mis it i just watched the video i downloaded in youtube…. another thing i like it der are scalops and rock crab.. yummy!!!! looking forward to go there again……

luv your site.you are a big help for everyone esp those who love to travel.if not because of you,we won’t be able to know how majestic and beautiful our beaches here in panay are esp in the northern part.thanks to you.i am your fan. love traveling and taking pictures too.keep it up! great art!

Wow, I’m so proud my hometown got featured! :) Thank you ever so much for bringing our beautiful place into the attention of nature lovers. I got lucky enough I visited the Pawikan cave when I was 15. I didn’t regret my new slippers got ruined because of sharp stones on our way to that cave. :)

Hi Marcos, your article is awesome! I’m getting ready to go back to Iloilo and I’ll definitely follow what you’ve posted here. I’m hoping that Dec. 8-10 will still be fine… no tropical storm. I’m very excited! I hope you can share who your guides are and if they have contact information, that would be great!

so much thanks for this feature. Its really nice to know that there are also other people aside from us locals who admire the splendor of the islands of Gigante. Iâ€™m pretty sure you went to our part of the islands, Gigante Sur and you stayed in Brgy. Lantangan (I am from Brgy. Gabi). Without a second thought, I can easily point which part of the island you took your pictures and I even know the two teens sitting on top of the rock (24th picture from top). They are the sons of Brgy. Sec. Arcaya.

I have been promoting Gigante in facebook and friendster through my accounts. I also took pictures of the islands and posted it but the the quality of your pictures are very good (pretty sure you have a high specs SLR), and also your angles are great. I can say that yours is the most fitting way to capture the beauty of our majestic place. For that, we will always be grateful to you.

I also recommend that in your next trip to Gigante try to visit Gigante Norte and its wonderful caves, try also a climb to the summit of Gigante Sur (we call it â€œthe Boulevardâ€). Its approximately a 1.5 kilometer exhausting climb, but if you reach the summit, the view is very rewarding. There is also a plateau where you can set up a tent for an overnight stay, just be sure to bring portable light.

I am very proud to seen those photos from the island where I been. I miss back home to that island. Been years that I wasn’t able to visit that place but have home and sister and her family living there still. Anyway, hope one day that place will become one of the most famous attration for the tourist once there’s a portion that will be develop in that island as a beach resort.

Thank you very much for those photos and hopefully more photos soon. More Power and God Bless.

i like your pictures! I am an employee of the municipality of Carles and in my own little way would like to thank you for showing your pictures about our town being a potential tourist destination. We are trying to promote our place so as to maximize the benefits of tourism industry. At present, we are introducing package tours. We also have a number of beach resorts that offers overnight stay. for inquiries our e mail address is [email protected] Thank you and more to you Marcos!!!

Hello there, my parents once civilized the the Gabi Place, we lived almost 5 years in that Island, had Fishing boats and helped alot of people as far as I remembered. Now am living 17 years already in Germany and was amazed seeing this place again. there were alot of entchanted stories about this place but real facinating. Those who wants to visit the place you can as some native folks of they know the Palma Family. what a surprize seeing this in Internet. a nice Virgin Place but now I don’t know how publicly wellknow is the place.

WOWWW! Ang galinnggg!!! Speechless about Pawikan CAVE shots, Marcos!! I thought Tangke was enough for the day… may ara pa gali pa-aman! Hehehe. I saw Isla Gigantes at a distance en route to Sicogon Island in the mid-90’s and I never thought nga may ara gali nga mystic cave didto!!! Not until you revealed it here! Again, EXCELLENT job, Marcos! BTW, did you take video as well? The shots reminds me of my favourite nature shows that I watched on HDTV. Couldn’t help myself but switched to intense imagination mode while panning around inside the cave! Hehehe…Danay guid, can’t help noticing the guy posing in your last shot…si Vince ato?

Thanks Lee for the comment. I’ll make a post about Pawikan Cave next time, there’s a story behind it that the locals are very intrigued about. Unfortunately, no videos, I didn’t take a video cam. I wished we could spend an entire day to explore the cave, but oh well. It’s not Vince in the photo.